Janice M. Jenkins

Chicago - Janice (Manns) Jenkins, 91, died peacefully on December 29, 2023, at her Chicago home. She lived two full and fulfilling lives, first as an amazing and dearly loved mother of five, then later as an esteemed professor of electrical engineering. Born in Flint, Michigan, the middle of three daughters of Earl (1902-1972) and Janice Richards (1909-2000) Manns, she grew up in Alton, Illinois. She married her true love, Harry James Jenkins, an Alton native, on April 14, 1951. His work took them to Toledo, Ohio; Louisville, Kentucky; and Arlington Heights, Illinois. In her housewife-and-mother period, she taught her own children and their friends to sew; led adult and Junior Great Books groups; learned the new technique of CPR and taught it to others; worked on political campaigns and acted as a civic gadfly; threw fun parties; volunteered for her church, St. James; and took a night course in electronics repair at the high school. Thrilled by her teen children's college search process, Janice took the advice of her son Patrick and decided to go to college herself. In short order she earned her bachelor, master and doctorate degrees from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her beloved husband died after a short illness a few months before his planned retirement and her final graduation. While her youngest son completed elementary school, Janice accepted a position as Assistant Professor at Northwestern University Medical School. She then became the first woman to join the faculty of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at the University of Michigan, eventually being promoted to Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and of Biomedical Engineering. She received the U-M Sarah Goddard Power Award for her outstanding professional achievements and contributions to the education of women, and the NSF Faculty Award for Women in Science and Engineering. Janice was a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the American College of Cardiology. She was justifiably proud of her professional success in the field of automated detection and treatment of life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias. But she was proudest of the number of undergraduate and graduate students she mentored and advised, including eight M.S. thesis and 20 Ph.D. students. Subsequent to Janice's retirement, Professor Rada Mihalcea was named the Janice M Jenkins Professor of Computer Science in recognition of her service. Upon her retirement in 2002, she returned to Chicago, enjoying the marvelous view of the lake and city skyline from her high rise, and the easy access to the Art Institute, the Lyric Opera, the Joffrey Ballet, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and especially the Grant Park Music Festival, where she delighted in continuing her vocation as an educator by becoming a docent. Most years found her spending a few months in Sarasota, Florida where she could swim and windsurf and watch the sun set while drinking a glass of champagne. She was predeceased in 2023 by her son Richard (Amy nee Fox). Her life and memory are celebrated by her four surviving children: Laura, Patrick (Marianne nee Trotter), Wendy (Marian Pliczka), and Jeannine, and their children, Liz (Paul) Whitelam, Alice Corcoran, Andrew Jenkins (Carina Kelley), Chris Jenkins, Elise Jenkins, Joshua Jenkins, Thomas Pliczka, Natalia Pliczka, and Richard's daughter Zuzie Jenkins. In addition to five granddaughters and four grandsons, Janice leaves six great-granddaughters and two great-grandsons: Lucy, Sandra, Morgan, Addison, Amaya, Isla, Evan and Logan, as well as eleven nieces; and grandnieces, grandnephews, great-grandnieces and great-grandnephews too numerous to count, and even one great-great-grand-niece. She is cherished and mourned by her younger sister Dana (Manns) Williams Hielema of Jupiter, FL. She was predeceased by her older sister Gloria (Manns) Dabbs Winters (1931-2016) as well as her son-in-law, John Corcoran (1945-2018), her nieces, Julie Volo (1953-2002) and Glorie Weingart (1957-2021), her nephews Jonathon Williams (1964-1978) and Timothy Winters (1965-1992), her brothers-in law, Ernie Winters (1921-1988), Bill Dabbs (1930-1998), Ken Hielema (1936-2012), and Eldon Williams (1931-2018). A Funeral Mass will be celebrated Friday, January 5, 2024, at 10:30 a.m. at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, with interment at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the scholarship fund of the Society of Women Engineers, www.swe.org, 312-596-5223. For further information www.michalikfuneralhome.com or 312-421-0936.